American Kleptocracy

Q: What happens when the government sells a resource cheaply, paying even for its transportation, to someone who has connections with the Department of the Interior?

A: 1794 federally protected wild horses get shipped to Mexico and eaten.

I've realized that this is an excellent metaphor for 21st century America.   Or a banana republic.   Or something out of Book 3 of Atlas Shrugged.

• According to the allegations and news reports, Mr. Davis also had farming and trucking connections with former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. 
• Mr. Davis admitted that most of the horses that he purchased through the BLM went to slaughter. 
• The agency also did not stop selling horses to Mr. Davis after receiving reports that he was sending the horses to slaughter. 
• The OIG declined to investigate Mr. Davis‘ ties to Mr. Salazar. 
• The investigation was referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado as well as the State of Colorado Conejos County District Attorney’s Office, which declined civil and criminal prosecution (emphasis mine), according to the report. 

So who gets fired here, and who goes to jail?   Nobody, unless people are prepared to fight back.


Link here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/24/blm-illegally-sold-thousands-wild-horses-slaughter/

Some more links about wild horse management.   Arguably they're invasive, and arguably burros are more so.   A certain amount of management is needed, but simply handing over 100s of thousands of dollars to a rancher is not "management".

Ridgecrest Regional Wild Horse & Burro Corrals 
Burros Inadvertently Save Life Of Hiker Lost In Death Valley National Park

Photo at top taken from the Sierra Institute's blog.   Note that I have no relation to them, and based on their blog, would never.  Hint: you don't take wild watercress from a spring in a desert - the wild horses and other animals you rhapsodize about are depending on it.

Walk in the Woods - and bring your flak jacket

It was a beautiful day, so I did some tramping in the uplands behind the property.   It's old farmland, now regrown, and logged for hardwoods about 25 years ago.   Great old stone walls, some interesting ruts and leftover trees from the logging operations, and some trails - some manmade, some machinemade, and some game trails.

Nice, right?

I kept walking, encountering a few beer cans along the way, and then this:

Kind of a buzzkill.
Folks, clean up after yourself, the next guy deserves the same experience you do.

Hurricane!

Getting ready for Joaquin here on the farm.

• Candles
• Full tank of diesel in the car
• Beer
• Extra hay for the goats
• Propane for the genny (more on that!)
• Charging the phones and tablets

We have a good 6kW propane powered generator.   It's your standard Chinese clone, but it does put out 220, so I've piped it into the house and we have all the basics covered - heat (if needed), hot water, well, sewer pump, fridge.   If we do lose power I estimate about 24 hours continuously at 1/2 load given our propane supply.   Next year I'll move the circuit to the top of the panel, and we'll have everything powered.

What I discovered today is that some sort of insect decided to nest in the tube connecting the gas fitting to the carb.   Of course that was AFTER I pulled the plug twice, tested for spark, went and got a battery so I could use electric start... nothing, except a bunch of goop in the fuel line.

Disassembled the fuel line, ran a rat-tail file down it a few times to clean out the crud, and shazam, 6kW of sweet, sweet power.

Moral: if you keep your generator outside, plug up all the holes.

The animals will all be inside - the stall doors bolt, and I'm tying the main doors closed to prevent them acting like a sail.   The chickens should be fine, it's not cold enough yet for the wind to be a factor inside the barn.